In Her Image
by ManicMelancholyMonkey
Summary: Summary: Once upon a time, Mavis decided to let her hair grow out.


AN: What? Another one? Oh Lord, I was inspired again!

Fandom: Hotel Transylvania

Characters/Warnings: Dracula, Mavis, misc. and mentions of Martha Dracula. There be angst and parent-child dilemmas here kiddies.

* * *

Chapter One

Once upon a time, Mavis had decided to grow her hair out.

The decision to do so had been made when, like most children, Mavis had started to desire independence. She'd begun to gain a mind of her own, and was veering away from the art of doing just as her father did. Unlike most however, Mavis could not help but be restricted from doing the things that she'd become most interested in, such as, well, seeking the outside world. Hotel Transylvania and, more importantly, her father, had domain on most everything in her young afterlife, and while she didn't want to necessarily leave everything behind, Mavis found the concept of having a little freedom to be alluring.

So she decided to let her hair grow. It was a slow process of course; vampire development was often as such when compared to human development, or werewolf development for that matter, but there was little downside to the idea. Occasionally it came under the radar of her father, or those closest to him such as Uncle Frank or Aunt Eunice, and Mavis's joy would be dampened. Adults were far too questioning. Thankfully this was rare enough not to take the fun out of it altogether. The fact that she grew slowly was a widely accepted one and not something to take up one's attention, at least not when she could escape into hidey-holes and secret tunnels that only she and her father knew about.

Each morning, Mavis would take a small amount of time for herself to check her progress. This was routine, along with few other things necessary to prep herself for another day, before her father came bursting in with his many affectionate greetings. The King of Vampires never spent a day without greeting his daughter and Mavis was used to it, although these days it had become a bit of an intrusion.

On one particular morning however, Mavis had dragged a few strands of her hair out and studied them. At full length, that which she had grabbed was waist-length and rather messy. Her usual bob had always been neat and fairly straight, but she discovered that the longer her mop grew, the more wavy and harder to control it became. The young vampire watched as her hair lent itself to her fingers, curling around them like dark vines curled around tree branches and a wide, fang-filled smile broke out on her face.

She'd done it.

In a moment of delight, Mavis shifted into the form of a bat and did a complete cycle around her room. "Yes!"

Simultaneously the door to her room opened and Mavis whipped around to see the familiar sight of her father. "Good Morning my sweet!" He exclaimed. Mavis could hear the severed head hanging on her doorknob as it too exclaimed, only with far more indignation, and swearing.

Dracula's daughter kept from laughing as she fluttered down to her father, forgetting in her excitement that she had switched back. "Hey Dad."

"Why Mavis," Dracula clasped his hands together as his daughter hovered in front of him, her wings flapping energetically, "What is so exciting? Look at you, you are all worked up. Tell Daddy what it is!"

This time Mavis could not help but giggle. She returned to her normal form in a burst of pinkish smoke and took on a position she hoped was presentable. Hands behind her back and head tilted to the side just enough for her father notice the hair trailing down her backside, Mavis stood before her father in anticipation.

What she received was not quite what she expected.

Dracula continued to smile adoringly at the image of his daughter in a bubbly mood before he became aware of what was being projected toward him. His little girl was sporting long waves of inky hair instead of her usual bob.

Suddenly bewildered, all Dracula could do was stare. "Your hair. It's..."

"Yes Daddy?" Mavis inquired with a tiny grin on her face.

The male reached out and absently plucked a lengthy curl, "it's quite long."

Mavis snickered at her father's reaction. So he had forgotten. "I know."

There was a pause from her father. Dracula seemed to lose focus as he delicately smoothed over the piece with the pad of his thumb.

"Have you been waiting for me to cut it?" He sounded like he was teasing, but the spacey look remained.

"What? No! Dad," A slight whine crept into Mavis's voice, and she had to hold her arms akimbo. "I can cut my own hair."

"Oh, of course Dead-ums; how silly of me." Dracula replied softly, still trying to contemplate what he was seeing. It took a moment or two for him to regain his composure and straighten up; he let the rebel strand fall back into place as he asked: "Would you like to accompany me to the lobby? Quasimodo has made us breakfast, or we can go out and catch shrews if you prefer."

Mavis tipped her head to the side in mock thought, "Could you tell Quasi to save it? I feel like stretching my wings."

Dracula smiled, all traces of forlornness disappearing as he allowed his daughter to lead them both to the lobby.

* * *

AN: Kids are weird.

I know that this is a little strange, all things considered. In actuality, I don't even know if Mavis's hair is able to grow. It was just another nit of an idea that popped into my head, so please don't be offended by the lack of research.

I anticipate that it will be around two or three chapters once completed. _Likeness_ was originally going to be a one-shot but I couldn't finish it all without tearing my own hair out. There are still a few kinks to be worked out, so feel free to point errors and what-not out to me. I'm actually interested in fixing this little chapter.


End file.
